Bracing for the backlash from Germany

FEW teams marry style and substance like ‘Die Mannschaft’, writes Brendan O'Brien.

Four-time world champions, three-time kings of Europe and, in recent years, Joachim Low’s side has added more than a touch of glitz and glamour to Germany’s traditionally stolid attributes, both on the pitch and away from it.

Yesterday, the head coach took to a purpose-built press conference stage in the impossibly wealthy surrounds of a LUEG car dealership — the country’s largest Mercedes Benz distributors — in the industrial city of Essen.